NEIL ROLNICK
SHADOW QUARTET
INNOVA CD

"The original idea was to use a computer to make aural shadows of the players" is how Neil Rolnick describes the initial concept for his Shadow Quartet. Then his father died and Rolnick talks about "the strange rhythm" of his final moments. In his writing for string quartet, the composer pitches some pretty conventional melodic lines against an undercurrent of 'out of body' rhythmic clicking from the computer, resulting in a multidimensional soundscape. The memorial for Rolnick's father is highly original and poignant. Elsewhere, his dry sense of humour lets rip. Body Work converts texts pilfered from Harper's magazine about various bodily functions -- why do babies drool? Can men be affected by a menstrual cycle? Do blind people see in theior dreams? -- into a wisecracking dialogue between Rolnick and vocalilst Joan La Barbara. The violin sourced Fiddle Faddle and the brass quintet Ambos Mundos document Rolnick's resourcefulness as he subjects acoustic instruments to computer transformations. Do composers hear in their dreams?